Does this video show former President Barack Obama's son at a political rally in Kenya? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Obama has a son. The original video was found on YouTube using the words, "barack obama look-alike." Obama's only children are his two daughters, Malia and Sasha, whom he shares with his wife, Michelle.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video posted on Facebook (archived here) where it was published on May 31, 2023, with the caption "🥰🥰🥰🥰 am very proud 👏 of this🥰🥰🥰🥰 i have a comment bt afraid if UDA team.watanimaliza😂."
Text over the video said, "Obama's son joins Azimio." The video opened with indistinct words being spoken by a man at a podium on a stage, before a younger man is handed a microphone and says:
Habari ... I am tremendously honored to be beside the president of the Republic of Kenya.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Jun 1 14:28:23 2023 UTC)
The rest of the video is the young man expressing how grateful he is to be in Kenya. He is not identified in the text or audio of the post, nor is it clear when the video was shot. The post does not give any evidence that the young man speaking is Obama's son.
Lead Stories found the original video on YouTube. It was titled, "BARACK OBAMA LOOK-ALIKE EXCITES MANY DURING RAILA ODINGA'S MEETING IN NAIROBI" and posted on May 31, 2023. Odinga was the prime minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013, and he is the leader of Kenya's Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) Alliance at the time of writing.
There is no evidence that Obama has any sons or any children other than his two daughters from his marriage to his wife, Michelle. The Obamas' two daughters, Malia and Sasha, are 24 and 21 years old, respectively as of this writing.
We have reached out to former President Obama's office and will update this article if we receive a relevant response.
Other Lead Stories fact checks referencing Obama and Kenya are here and here.
